HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
Chapter 15: Meeting the Resistance
The SWAT Kats looked around the place that Aurora once called home. The wooden structure, the parts that were left, showed it had once been enormous. Over the last twenty years, the forest that surrounded it had the time to totally overwhelm it. It looked like nothing more than a overgrown forest.
The sky above was a crystal blue and a warm yellow sun shone down on them. Fluffy white clouds drifted by and birds of brilliant hues flew back and forth over their heads.
"Nice place!" T-Bone said admiringly.
"Nice? I'd say it looks like paradise. It's gorgeous." Razor said in awe.
"Glad you like it." Aurora smiled briefly before her face fell into a sad frown. "It was once magnificent but now its nothing but ruins." She sighed. "Alright we need to check to see if our radios work." She said, getting down to business.
"Roger!" T-Bone said. He called out over his radio and was pleased when everyone came through clear on their helmet coms.
"That's good news. Maybe the same will be true of the negators then." Razor said hopefully.
"Okay, this is your world, Aurora. How do you want to play this?" T-Bone asked seriously as he kept an eye out for danger.
Before she could answer, Razor jumped in. "Might as well use the robots. I'm certain the Professor packed them with surveillance capabilities, hoping they would work here." Razor said and, not waiting for a response from his companions, gave the robots a command. "Robots! Turn about and scan the area for other life forms similar to us." He commanded.
The robots silently turned around and a low hum indicated they were doing their job. After what seemed like a long time, at least two of the robots signaled they had detected something.
Razor indicated for one of them to speak. In a low, near normal style voice, the robot reported sensing life forms some thirty yards in front of it.
"Wish we knew if they were friendly or not!" T-Bone growled. "Well, there's nothing we can do but go find out for ourselves. I suggest we leave a group of robots here with the weapons."
"Good idea. I think only one needs to come with us and the rest hide out of sight here." Razor agreed. He turned and ordered one of them to stand with them and the rest to hide in a secluded spot out of sight. In minutes the robots staying behind vanished from view with ghostly silence.
"Wow! Those are some excellent robots. The Professor is a genius." T-Bone shook his head in admiration.
"I'm certainly glad for that. Shall we get going?" Aurora said beginning to lead the way.
They moved cautiously through the brush, trying to make very little noise as they approached the group the robots had detected.
After walking some twenty minutes, they heard voices. Using all the cover they could find they moved closer and were soon peering through a heavily vine-covered area between two trees.
Some fifteen feet from their hiding place they saw a group of about ten people gathered. At least four of them were standing watch, the rest seemed to be engaged in a tense discussion as they crouched on the ground, huddled together.
T-Bone, Razor and Aurora were too far away to hear what was being said. Razor tapped Aurora on the shoulder to signal a pull back.
Carefully they slipped back several feet so they could talk undetected.
"Okay, are they friend or foe?" Razor asked softly.
"Well, they aren't red force hunters, so I can safely say they must be the resistance." Aurora whispered, cautiously.
"It's your call. What do you want to do?" T-Bone murmured.
Before answering, Aurora turned to the robot standing silently near them.
"Robot! Are there any more people besides these in the area?" She asked softly.
"No!" It said, it's own intonation low and quiet.
Nodding to herself, she turned back to the guys. "Okay, then we need to make a small disturbance to draw one of them into our hiding place so that we can test the negator."
"Sounds like a good idea, but I suggest the robot be the only one seen." Razor amended.
Aurora nodded. Razor gave the robot instructions then the three moved back to their hiding place. Once they were hidden, the robot made a small noise. The SWAT Kats and Aurora watched as one of the guards startled. Signaling his companion, the guard cautiously entered the forest. The three watchers stayed perfectly still as the guard passed within a few feet of them heading toward the robot.
After waiting for a few minutes and hearing no sound, the three quickly but silently scurried back to where the robot had been waiting. They were greeted by the sight of the robot holding the guard firmly. One paw over the guards mouth to silence him the other around his waist restraining him. The guard was frantically trying to throw spells with his paws but, by the confused expression on his face, it wasn't working.
"Perfect! It works here." Aurora said in relief.
"That's certainly good news, so let's take out the rest so we can get down to business." T-Bone said, equally relieved.
"Right. We hit them in a spray pattern then we approach." Aurora said decisively.
The other two nodded and they returned to their previous hiding place. Once they were ready, Aurora hissed out a command.
"Now!"
Instantly, all four fired their negators at the group, insuring all were hit. The group before them never reacted. The negators made no sound or light and caused no sensation. Once certain they'd hit every target, they slowly moved from cover.
The ones guarding instantly went on alert and pointed their staves at the intruders. The ones crouching on the ground, stood up quickly and pointed their paws at the approaching strangers.
Two of them called out a spell. They were immediately shocked when nothing happened.
Aurora was in front with T-Bone and Razor flanking her from behind as they approached. The SWAT Kats had their glovatrix aimed at the group just in case they had to knock some heads in before they could discuss things.
At least three of the group began to charge them but at a sharp command from a female behind them caused them to froze.
Aurora walked up till she stood about five feet from them then halted.
"My name is Aurora Feral. I've come to help you bring freedom to our world." She announced removing her helmet so they could see her better.
"Aurora Feral! But we heard you were dead or captured." The tall, red headed female said in shocked surprise, staring at the strange clothes the female was wearing.
"Nemixor opened a portal into another dimension and shoved me through just before the Red Force Leader's troops destroyed our home." Aurora said, bitter anguish still lacing her voice.
"Why are you only now returning?" The apparent leader of the group asked, anger seeping through her voice.
"I was very young and terrified. I did as Nemixor bid me too.......hide! It wasn't until the Red Force Leader's hunters appeared in my new home that I even realized the war was still going on." Aurora explained. "I remained in fear for my life so stayed in hiding."
Frowning unhappily, her group growled comments of displeasure at that news. The leader stared coldly at this Green Sect female.
"And now you've returned.......why? You apparently were safe." Her voice dripped scorn at that last word. "Why return here and offer us help now?" She demanded.
Though it stung, Aurora could understand their hostility. In her own heart, she felt bad about staying away when so many of her people were suffering but she couldn't change the past. The future of her kind was all that mattered now. She straightened her shoulders and used the command abilities she had learned over her twenty year exile.
"The Red Force Leader invaded my adopted home trying to locate me. He had plans to make me his mate. It was then I knew it was time to come home. Unlike when I first arrived, I am now a trained military leader and my magic has grown. I successfully kept them busy until my companion here....." gesturing to Razor then continuing, ".....and another invented a way to negate magic and helped me capture all of the Red Force Leader's hunters and imprison them. With the help of Razor and a scientist, we brought you more of these magic negators and robots, a special type of warrior, that will help us win our planet back. That's if you'll accept our help." Aurora said, hoping they wouldn't reject her.
The group stared at her in disbelief. Their leader narrowed her eyes, this she-kat apparently believed what she was saying and it was undeniable that none of them could use their magic at this moment, still.......
"I believe you about this 'negator' since it's obvious we can't use our magic, but what is a robot?" She asked.
Razor called behind him, "Robot come, bring your prisoner with you."
Moments later a black metal demon came through the brush holding one of her people firmly but gently in its arms. It walked up to stand next to the strangers and halted. All of her people stared in fear at this strange thing.
"Release your prisoner." Razor instructed it.
The robot gently placed the prisoner on his feet. The Kat rubbed its face and body as he walked quickly away from the strange creature.
"Are you alright, Stran." His leader asked in concern.
"I'm okay. I can't use my magic at all but it didn't harm me." Stran said looking back at his captors with respect. "That thing is incredibly strong. I couldn't move at all."
The leader turned her attention back to Aurora. "It seems a miracle has dropped in our laps." She annouced to her people before addressing the strangers. "You have more of these things as well as the weapon you used on us, is that correct?" She asked.
"Yes! But first I need to know what has been going on since I was sent away. I suggest we go back to where the remains of my sect's dwelling is and talk." Aurora said.
The leader frowned then turned to the others around her. A silent communication went on for a bit before she returned her attention to the three.
"Alright. You lead we'll follow." She said.
Aurora nodded and she and the SWAT Kats led the group back to the Green Sect's ruins but not all the way to where their robots were hidden. They weren't ready to go that far until they had some idea what they were getting into.
She halted them in an area that was once the Green Sect meeting hall. She indicated they sit.
"Don't worry about guards. Our robots can tell if anyone is coming near much faster and sooner than we can. That is how we knew where you were." Aurora told them.
Eyes got round with wonder at that bit of news.
"It is good to have a defense with such sharp eyes and ears. You told us who you are, I suppose it is my turn. I am called Tanara. I am leader of the Yellow Sect. Of the some fifty thousand of us that had existed, there are now only five thousand that we can account for. The same is true of most of the other sects that survived the onslaught of the Red Force Leader's attack. You know, of course, that all your sect that had survived are slaves." Tanara said, eyeing Aurora questioningly.
"Yes, I had but didn't know how many had survived." Aurora said quietly.
"Only some two hundred of your sisters are living. No males survived." Tanara said, a look of sympathy on her face at Aurora's gasp of anguish.
T-Bone reached out a paw of comfort to her for a moment and she smiled wanly at him in appreciation.
"Please tell me what has been going on." Aurora said, when she had regained her composure.
Nodding, pleased by the strength of will in this female, Tanara told them about the resistance force. The tale was a terrible one. The Red Force Sect had succeeded in destroying all the other sects homes and decimating nearly a third of each sects population. The rest that had managed to survive and not be captured and made slaves, banded together in small fighter groups. Unfortunately, all they had managed to do over the years was survive, protecting their weaker members and hiding, striking only when they could manage to do any significant damage which wasn't often. Their life was harsh and unforgiving with many kittens dying from poor medical care, lack of food and clean water or the attacks of their enemy. Tanara's group was one of the few fighter groups left and they had been planning on attacking an outpost nearby because it was too close to where their survivors were holed up.
T-Bone and Razor were tense and angry during the briefing. The depredations of this Red Force Leader was worse than anything Dark Kat had done to Megakat City. It seemed the help they had brought was just in time to save what little of Aurora's world was left.
Her face grim, Aurora took on her command behavior that had led her to be Megakat City's best leader and laid out a plan of action.
"First, it will be necessary to get a hold of all the fighter groups still left, as fast as we can, arm them with negators and robots, then attack at the same time. The Red Force Leader will not expect this and we should be able to defeat him quickly and decisively. I have managed to close his portal which means he cannot open it for at least a few more days. We have the technology to make holding areas that keep their magic negated for as long as we need to but until we can build them here, we will have to have the robots keep firing the negator weapons on a frequent basis to keep the enemy weak. Now just because they can't do magic doesn't mean they are helpless so no one should get complacent when handling the prisoners. Vigilance will win this war.....carelessness will lose it for us." Aurora said firmly.
Tanara and the rest of her group stared at Aurora Feral with new respect. This was a tactician, one who knew war despite not having lived in this one. Tanara wondered just how bad Aurora's adopted world was for her to be so skilled. Perhaps when this war was over, she'd have time to ask the amazing she-kat.